Alex was sent back to a Space Marine unit in Arrakiss. This unit was charged with finding and disposing of insurgent weapons cache and explosives used against the Titan Empire and, by extension, the Galactic Federation. As before, it was a hot desert environment on a newly created base. Alex landed on the shuttle airstrip and took a hover jeep to where she needed to be. Some of the men made obnoxious comments about Alex as she approached.
"I heard she's solid," Hung said.
"We'll get her ready, huh, Jizzy?" Handcock asked rhetorically.
"Looks like she's got a fresh pair of panties on," Jizzy figured.
"Veteran Sergeant Kenny?" Alex asked of the one in charge. "Battle Brother, Olsen."
"Pleasure, Olsen," Kenny said politely. "Hung, meet your new junior."
"Let me introduce you to the boys," Hung said as he took Alex away for some introductions and orientations.
On Alex's first patrol, she was acting as a gunner on a hover jeep. The rest of the patrol was on foot through the dirty, filthy, trashy streets of the town. As Alex looked around, she couldn't help but wonder whether Imperial "civilization" was for the better here. The Freemen were able to live in the desert wilderness without ever needing towns or cities. As the patrol made their way to their destination, they made small talk.
"I'd kill for some swine," Chow-Chow said of the marketplace.
"Do you only think of food, you, fat fuck?" Hung asked.
"And he just ate? What the fuck?" Jizzy remarked.
"There's nothing a man can eat here," Chow-Chow judged.
"Why? Because there aren't any sausages you can put down your throat?" Jizzy asked.
"Nothing queer about liking to eat sausages," Chow-Chow said defensively.
"Yeah, bullshit," Hung disagreed.
"Children, children, pay attention, school has started," Kenny said as they reached their destination.
"There's no weapons here," Medah, their interpreter, told him.
"Wait...what?" Kenny thought he misheard.
"I know what goes on beyond these doors," Medah said cryptically.
"The oracle doth speaks," Kenny mocked and then banged on the door.
"What the fuck do you want? Who the fuck are you?" the resident owner said freaked out.
"My brother in Christ, they're looking for weapons. They're going to make their way in. We can do this the hard way or the easy way and if they have to do it the hard way, they're going to fuck up your establishment," Medah said calmly.
"Fuck me," the resident owner said and then allowed them in.
The Space Marines went through the building and quickly cleared it of weapons and explosives. Instead, they found several people high as balls on some spice hookah. "What the fuck is this place?" Hung wondered.
"A sports bar," Kenny mocked.
"The owner says your intel is shit," Medah frowned.
"Well...no shit," Kenny conceded. "I'm so tired of this bullshit. How do you know what goes on here?"
"My family and I owned a spice business," Medah said simply.
"No shit? Why did you decide to join the empire?" Kenny asked curiously.
"The Freemen killed my son," Medah replied.
"Now I feel like shit for asking," Kenny sighed. "Hey, don't touch those pipes," he yelled at his men.
The patrol continued through town and then into the wilderness along a dirt road until they found a small sand-brick house. As it happened, instead of finding some weapons, they ended up finding another Space Marine patrol that also got bad intel. "We could retire here, Jizzy," Kenny joked.
"And then we can get ourselves a dog...and milk it," Jizzy considered.
"Jesus, Jizzy, why did you have to make it queer?" Kenny complained.
"You made it queer first," Jizzy said defensively.
"The fuck I did. There's nothing queer about two men living in a quaint house on the prairie," Kenny objected. "What the fuck are these coordinates? It's turning into a real cluster-fuck here," he said to Hung.
"The coordinates come from the home office. What do you want to do about it?" Hung asked.
"I want to stop wasting time! Fuck! Let's...spend a couple of hours here and have a barbeque," Kenny decided.
The team found meat...somewhere...from something...and cooked it. "Impressive," Medah remarked.
"Not all of us are animals, except Chow-Chow, of course," Handcock said to him.
"You want a beer, Olsen?" Kenny asked as she was still in the gunner seat.
"I don't drink, alcoholic," Alex replied.
"Respect," Kenny nodded. "More beer for the rest of us."
At the base, Brainiac 5 inspected some apples for any imperfections; he was the acting commander of the base. He was met up with Kenny who was positively shit-faced and had barely made it back alive with his DUI driver. "I wouldn't normally bother you, Sir, but you're the only one that gets anything done around here," Kenny said.
"What appears to be the problem?" Brainiac 5 asked knowingly.
"We keep going out and achieving nothing. I keep putting my men in constant danger and finding shit out there," Kenny complained.
"You've been tasked with finding weapons and explosives. You can be creative in how you search for them," Brainiac 5 allowed. "Do it your way."
"I don't think you'll like it my way," Kenny said darkly.
"I don't have to because we didn't have this conversation," Brainiac 5 said and then closed the door to his office behind him.
As it happened, the way to get the right coordinates to some actual weapons was for Kenny to make sweet love to another male Veteran Sergeant in the military intelligence department. Upon achieving this, he went back to Medah who was fixing a hover jeep. "You recognize this guy?" Kenny asked hopefully.
"Yes," Medah said vaguely.
There was a long awkward silence between them. "Do you know what I had to do to get this information?" Kenny asked irritably.
"Yes," Medah nodded knowingly.
"Come with me," Kenny said finally.
That night, Kenny and Medah kidnapped a suspected member of the insurgency and made him talk.
The next morning, Kenny had a meeting with Brainiac 5. "What do you got?" Brainiac 5 asked knowingly.
"I got two sites, I'll take them from behind...quietly," Kenny said.
"If you need any help, give me a call," Brainiac 5 said giving nothing away.
Once Kenny was gone, a Titan officer came to see Brainiac 5. "We were given assurances that only Titans and drones would be doing search and destroy missions. That, the humans would be sent on false missions for training purposes."
"Veteran Sergeant Kenny is resourceful and found a site on his own. I cannot stop him without revealing the ruse," Brainiac 5 said simply.
"If his team were to befall an ambush, it would solve all of our problems," the Titan officer said.
"The Imperial Princess is with his team. So long as she is protected, the team is protected," Brainiac 5 said seriously.
As it happened, the Freemen interpreters convinced Kenny that due to bad terrain, it would be better to take a longer route. With no intelligence to confirm or deny, Kenny made the call. "Fuck it," he agreed.
A convoy of hover-jeeps exited the base and into the wilderness. In the middle of the trip, Medah decided to speak up. "Veteran Sergeant Kenny, please stop the vehicle," he said.
"Excuse me? We don't stop moving, we keep going," Kenny shut him down.
"We have a problem," Medah said calmly.
"Shit," Kenny realized. "Jizzy, stop the vehicle." "What's up, Medah?"
"We're being led into a trap," Medah said nonchalantly.
"That's a pretty big assumption," Kenny said dismissively.
"Not assumption, deduction," Medah corrected. "Hader has no logical reason to go down this road. Don't go down this road."
"Look, Hader has been vetted," Kenny told him off.
"Well, okay then," Medah shrugged.
There was a long awkward silence between them. "God damn it," Kenny conceded. "Jizzy, get me a drone, pull security on those hills and tell me what you see." Alex stayed in the gunner seat while the rest of the team went up the hills to see if there was anything.
"All clear," Hung said from above.
"See, you're out of line," Kenny said to Medah.
"Sergeant, there's a pillbox eight clicks away, looks like an ambush," Jizzy said from the drone footage.
"Well...shit," Kenny sighed. "Back to base," he radioed his men. "How did you know Hader was a traitor?"
"The insurgency has his family. I overheard him talking to the other interpreters," Medah shrugged.
"You're to tell me important shit like that," Kenny said outraged.
"I'm just here to translate," Medah said condescendingly.
"Oh, you, motherfucker," Kenny said pissed.
At the base, Alex used her laptop to make a video call to Earth. "It's already evening there. It's lunchtime here," Kelly remarked.
"Well, the planet rotates slower which is why it's so hot here," Alex explained. "So, how's your practice?"
"It's good. I'm booked for six weeks with counselings. People are really fucked up in this time. It's so interesting," Kelly said wide-eyed.
"That's good," Alex nodded. "How are the books?"
"I've read them all," Kelly nodded.
"Well, seems you're all squared away," Alex said relieved.
"Of course," Kelly said obviously.
"Just one of the many reasons I love you," Alex said sweetly.
"I love you, too, Alex, come back home quickly," Kelly said hopefully.
The next morning, Kenny met up with Brainiac 5 and the Titan officer. "Interpreter pulled through," Brainiac 5 remarked.
"Yeah, well, he's still an asshole," Kenny said peeved.
"He saved eight lives," Brainiac 5 pointed out.
"That he did," Kenny conceded. "I'm going to site two, one hundred twenty clicks away. Would be nice to have some birds."
"It would be...but no," Brainiac 5 denied. "Happy hunting."
As Kenny left, Brainiac 5 knowingly eyed his Titan counterpart.
The convoy arrived at an abandoned mining facility in the middle of nowhere. The Space Marines quickly confirmed Freemen were present and up to nefarious purposes with tanks filled with fuel. With the area surrounded, Kenny went up to the administrator. "You got bang-bang?" Kenny asked him through Medah as an interpreter.
"Explosives? This is a mining facility so yeah," he said obviously.
"Okay, smartass, are you working for the enemy?" Kenny demanded.
"The enemy? No, they have a plantation over there," the administrator pointed out.
"That's an Imperial plantation," Kenny said confused. "Oh, you, motherfucker," he said realizing what he meant. "Clear the mine," he ordered his men.
Jizzy led a team around the mine and found a Conex filled with plasma rifles. "We got weapons here," he radioed.
"Cuff them all," Kenny ordered. Immediately, Jizzy had all the mine workers cuffed and on the ground. Kenny found a shed not too far away and found some insurgents and some explosive vests. "Stay back, Medah, we don't need a translator for this."
Kenny and his team went inside and lit everyone up. "Jizzy, we need air support immediately," he radioed.
"Air support, on its way," Jizzy reported.
A few dozen insurgent fighters arrived on location to ambush them. The Space Marines were well-armored and well-armed. They were able to keep the Freemen at bay while Alex used her gunning position to take out an entire squad of insurgents on a hill with automatic plasma fire. Insurgents arrived in a vehicle to block their path. Alex fired on the insurgent's vehicle blasting it to scrap. The insurgents fired back and managed to get a hit on Alex's cheek. She fell inside the vehicle stunned.
"Olsen is down, Tom-Cat, get the gun," Jizzy ordered.
The Space Marine sniper, Ka-Kaw, was able to get some clean shots before mortars rained down on him, killing him instantly. Another insurgent vehicle arrived with a squad of fighters. They fired an RPG into the hover-jeep causing an explosion that killed Tom-Cat instantly. Hung ended up getting shot down by several insurgent fighters. The Space Marines were dropping like flies.
Kenny and Medah engaged the insurgents with accurate shots, dropping several men. Medah then departed from Kenny toward the hover-jeep that was on fire. He pulled Alex out of the wreckage and into one of the miner's vehicles. He then took off with Alex down the road leaving the rest of the Space Marines to fend for themselves. The insurgents gave chase in their own vehicles. In the firefight, Medah's vehicle was fatally damaged and came to a crashing halt. Medah dragged a barely conscious Alex out of the vehicle and off the road into the wilderness.
Three Titan helicopters arrived on the scene only to find dead bodies. "Forty insurgents KIA, we've recovered all Space Marine bodies except for Olsen and the interpreter," the lead pilot radioed.
Meanwhile, Medah brought Alex to the top of a hill and began first aid. Alex was a bloody mess from her cheek and had burns in several places. Brainiac 5 used her own medpac to place a healing gel pad on her cheek that immediately healed the wound. He then took out a spray bottle and went to work on her burns. Still, Medah couldn't heal the emotional damage. Alex had lost her whole team.
"You're in charge, Space Marine," Medah said gently.
"We'll rest here for tonight," Alex decided, exhausted from her injuries and getting up the hill.
The next morning, Medah woke Alex up. After getting her bearings, Alex looked over her busted-up suit. "No communications, no map, and critical systems are damaged," she said. "The suit is useless. I'll just have to blend in," Alex said as she stripped the armor off her. Medah simply stared as she shed her armor and ended up in a tan t-shirt, combat pants, and boots while slinging her rifle.
Alex then took out a folded-up map and compass to get terrain association to figure out where they were and where to go. After calculating it out, she briefed Medah on the plan. "The base is one hundred twenty clicks away in that direction over shit terrain. The insurgents are everywhere so we can't use the roads. We're not walking, we're double-timing. You, good?"
"I'm good," Medah assured her.
Medah was able to keep up with Alex as they went over rough terrain, up and down ditches and giant hills. The insurgents were also on foot, racing toward them close behind. Alex and Medah ended up in a canyon. Alex spotted two armed insurgents and gestured this to Medah. In a sudden go, Alex clubbed one of the insurgents with the butt of her rifle while Medah slit the throat of the other. Occasionally, Alex and Medah would sneak up on a lone insurgent, tackle him, and slit his throat without a sound. The two made their way to the bottom of the canyon to give themselves some speed. Looking up, Alex spotted two Freemen looking for them from above. Unable to do anything else, she quickly fired on them, blasting them to pieces with her plasma rifle. Immediately, the canyon got lit up with plasma fire from the nearby insurgents.
Alex and Medah bounded forward, took cover, and evaded fire as they made their way through the canyon. The two took out several insurgents with accurate aim, those in front of them and those above. They then hid in a cave as another squad of insurgents searched the area. When the area was clear, the two ventured out until they reached an open area. Finding a primitive structure, the two cleared it of any residents.
"We'll bed here tonight," Alex said finally.
The next morning, Alex awoke and scanned the area with her rifle scope for any hostiles, figuring they might be close. Suddenly, she was fired upon by the insurgents, one to her right arm and one to her left leg. She then got hit to the head hard by the buttstock of a rifle. Three insurgents surrounded her and were on the verge of killing her.
"She must die!" one of them said.
"We need her alive, she's the princess," the other one said. "Calm down, brother. Do not waste your tears."
Alex then got hit with a buttstock to the head even harder, knocking her out, and causing blood to freely flow from her scalp. She was then dragged away to the road where a vehicle came up. As all seemed lost, the three Freemen were suddenly shot to the ground releasing Alex. Medah casually walked up to the driver who was struggling to get his rifle up and shot him in the head. He then calmly executed the three wounded insurgents. Looking down, he assessed Alex's injuries.
"Alex, we're going home," Medah assured her.
Medah used more medical equipment from Alex's medpac, and bandaged her up. Instead of using the insurgents' vehicle, he hoisted Alex on his shoulders and took her forward away from the roads, up and down the hills, day and night without stop. He eventually came to a town, acquired a vehicle, put Alex in the trunk, and drove on the roads only to be stopped by insurgents who demanded a ride.
"Drive a few clicks up the road," the leader of the four ordered.
"Yes, I will take you," Medah readily agreed. "What are you out here for?"
"We're looking for an Imperial princess and her damn interpreter," he said. "Have you seen anyone like that?"
"I have seen no one. These roads are quiet," Medah replied. "I am surprised to see you."
"We will find them. This is our territory," the leader said confidently, completely oblivious. "What's in the back?"
"Rugs, you interested?" Medah lied.
"No, we live only off the land," the leader said offended as they drove through wastelands of endless sand and rocky hills. "Stop here."
"Peace be upon you," Medah said as the four insurgents got out.
Medah came upon a small village and bargained his vehicle for food, medical supplies, and a wooden cart which they accepted. "So, you are the two they are looking for," the village elder assumed. "I don't like these insurgents. I will help you. Here's a spice pipe."
"Thank you," Medah said appreciatively.
"There is a heavy price on your head. They have hundreds of insurgents looking for you. They have been village to village sucking out the liquid of anyone who refuses to give them information," the village leader warned.
Night and day, Medah took Alex on the cart through the wilderness. Occasionally, he would give Alex a spice pipe for her pain. Normally, Alex wouldn't be too keen on drugs, but she was too fucked up to think clearly. It wasn't long before her eyes became bright blue. After countless hours, the two were in sight of the base. At a trading post, Medah gave Alex food and water and nothing for himself. Insurgents then showed up. They got out of their vehicle and went over to Medah's cart.
Before they could get too close, Medah expertly shot the insurgents in the head and then the driver in the head. The third fighter tried to tackle Medah but he remained completely still. He physically overpowered the third insurgent and strangled him to death on the spot. The sound of plasma fire brought Space Marines to the location.
"I have one of yours in the cart," Medah informed them.
"Holy shit, it's Olsen. Get me a medic," the squad leader said upon seeing her.
Earth
Alex was brought to Metropolis General and fixed up. Her arm and leg were healed within a day, while the traumatic brain injury took a little longer. She was then brought to Midvale to recuperate with Kelly. Kara also came by to visit. "I'm going to give you another Navy Cross. You're going to be the most decorated Space Marine in the corps," Kara said cheerfully. "You went over a hundred clicks crawling on sand and rocks to get back. That's what the history books are going to say."
"If I did, I don't remember it," Alex downplayed, totally subdued.
"You still don't remember a thing?" Kara frowned.
"I remember waking up at the hospital and that's it. So, why give me a medal? Give it to him. As far as I know, I was just a passenger," Alex said.
"I don't think he wants a medal. I think he wants a visa," Kara said knowingly.
"Well, make it happen," Alex said obviously.
"Even if we wanted to, we can't find the guy," Kara shrugged.
"Find him?" Kelly asked confused.
"Where did he go?" Alex asked concernedly.
"After your little hike, Medah got himself a lot of enemies among the insurgents. Let's just say they were pissed and embarrassed he was able to cart you one hundred clicks across their territory. I'd be embarrassed. I would lay down my arms and let America put a McDonalds in my village if I failed that hard," Kara mused. "So, yeah, he's on their top ten most wanted list, and he's gone into hiding. But I would forget about the guy. If I put all of my fixation on every guy that has ever given me a favor, I'd go out of my mind. Just let things work itself out on Arrakiss."
However, Alex wouldn't let it go. Over the next few weeks, she called up the Titan Embassy in Metropolis and demanded that Medah be given a visa. The embassy gave her a whole list of bullshit reasons for refusing her request and also tried to stall her. At night, Alex had frequent night terrors. All day, every day, Alex was on the phone arguing with Titan officials over Medah's visa.
First, the Titans intentionally got Medah's name wrong, requiring Alex to constantly spell it out to them. Then, they stalled her out by putting her on hold or giving her an endless list of supervisors to talk to. Then, the Titans demanded a background check on Medah's three-year-old child. The next stalling tactic was to refuse to give the visa until Medah was found. The Titans also offered to give Medah a visa but not his wife and child which Alex raged was impossible.
As the next week went on, the Titan officials supposedly lost all of the paperwork on Medah, requiring Alex to do everything all over again. They also asked if Alex was a blood relation before putting her on hold. Finally, the Titan Embassy folded and informed Alex it would take nine months to process the visa minimum.
"He will be dead, his whole family will be dead within nine months! You, stupid fucks!" Alex raged through the phone.
Eventually, Alex went back to drinking again in a relapse and got shit-faced before talking to the Titan officials again. "Are you going to put me on hold again? Yeah, go ahead and put me on hold," Alex said slurring her words.
"One minute," the Titan official lied.
"Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't put the phone down. You put me on hold again, I will find your ass," Alex threatened.
"Just one moment," the Titan official replied.
"What's your fucking name, huh? What's your name? I will come to your fucking house and find you!" Alex screamed before throwing her phone into a mirror shattering it.
That night, Alex had a huge flashback of everything Medah had done for her. She couldn't go to sleep the rest of the night. Kelly woke up and noticed her staring off into space. "Alex?"
"As if it weren't enough to carry me across those mountains, now I can't get him out of my fucking head. I'm lying in this bed. I kiss Kelex goodnight every night. And he's hiding in a hole somewhere. A hole he can never get out of. A hole we put him in and that wasn't the deal. We promised to give his family sanctuary and then we fucked him. I should be in that hole," Alex said bitterly. "I don't feel blessed. I feel cursed. I have no rest."
"Alex, in life, it's rarely quid pro quo with everyone we meet. Sometimes, someone gives us more than we give them. Sometimes, you give them more than they give you. But in the end, it all balances itself out. You have to believe that Medah's service to you will be repaid by someone else. It doesn't have to be you," Kelly said gently.
"I wish that were true, but the reality is that some people serve their entire lives and get nothing in return from anyone ever, and I'm sick of it," Alex said angrily.
"Bring Kara into this," Kelly advised.
Alex relented and brought Kara to her house in Midvale. "We both know how this is going to end," Kara said somberly.
"I'm going to have to get him out, myself," Alex said with crazy eyes.
"No...fuck no," Kara shook her head. "This is where you make a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Alex frowned.
"You give up this Space Marine nonsense, and you get back to being an Imperial Princess. Then, the Titans will listen to you. They're not going to listen to some Space Marine Battle Brother," Kara said.
"Why can't I have both? They know who I am," Alex insisted.
"Because they know they can fuck with you without me punishing them for it," Kara revealed. "You want the power to change lives on a galactic scale, take the job, Alex."
"And be your subordinate?" Alex asked.
"You're already my subordinate, Alex. Who the fuck do you think is in charge of the entire government? It doesn't matter if the orders come directly from me or not," Kara said incredulously.
"It does matter because I take orders from trained honorable fighters, and you're a...narcissistic blackmailing blond ditz playing Sim Universe!" Alex shouted.
"Who's blackmailing whom? You're the one that forced me to make you a Space Marine or else you would go back to the 21st century so fuck your noise," Kara shot back. "You're a Space Marine, your brothers die all around you, civilians you can't save die all around you. It's part of the fucking job. I have to balance the galaxy. That's my job."
"And is part of Titan exploitation a part of balancing the galaxy?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, it is. Arrakiss is key to their spice production, which is key to sustaining their colonial empire. I need them for their ships, their resources, and their telepathic abilities so I can defend the galaxy against even greater threats," Kara explained. "If you were an Imperial princess, you could have a word on these matters, but no one gives a fuck what some Battle Brother thinks about galactic politics."
"Then, maybe I will show you that you should," Alex replied.
Alex and Kelly finally had a heart-to-heart talk one day. "I know and have accepted what you do, Alex, whether it be the DEO, Super-Friends, or the Space Marines. We've had this conversation many times. I've said goodbye to you, not knowing if I would ever see you again for the last couple of years. But this time, it's different. I really thought you were dead, and I suffered this news for three weeks. Can you imagine how I felt? But you have put me in an impossible situation. Being your wife is one thing, but being a mother is another. We owe that man your life. So, you'll go. You'll come back alive to me," Kelly said passionately.
Alex merely nodded, resolved.
Metropolis
Alex headed down to the Imperial base in Metropolis and met with Kara and Brainiac 5. "So...how can I help you, Alex?" Brainiac 5 asked condescendingly. "You've been making some noise lately." Brainiac 5 then replayed various audio messages of Alex ranting and raving against Titan officials.
"There's been an official complaint," Kara smirked.
"I see what this is. Some kind of intervention?" Alex figured. "Or, to slap my wrist. That's not why I'm here. I have a debt, and it must be paid. It demands a result, not appeasement. There is a hook in me, you cannot see with your cybernetic eyes or your X-ray vision. But it is there, and I have no choice. I'm going to get that man out of the hole we put him in. And, of that, I have no doubt, and you're going to help me."
"We have a deal on the table," Brainiac 5 said gently.
"Quit the Space Marines and take up your post in the royal family. In return, I'll mobilize the Vindicators, the drone army, the Titans, the entire fucking galaxy to find this man and his family and bring them to Earth," Kara promised.
"No deals. I've saved your life, you've saved my life. You should understand what it means to pay a debt," Alex said and then stormed out of the room.
Midvale
Alex went back home, got her gear, said goodbye to Kelly and Kelex, and headed out. As it happened, Alex had a trump card: Kon-El. She met up with him at a random airport in Maine. "So, here's the deal. If I go to Arrakiss, everyone is going to know about it. Mother is going to know about it. It will be an instant shitstorm," Kon said.
"When did you ever get a shit about that?" Alex asked incredulously.
"If you behave some of the time, you can be Insane in bigger ways. If I play the game, I get missions, information, and teams I can use to kick ass and take names across the galaxy," Kon reasoned. "So, I'll get you there. You go find him, alone, and then I'll pick you both up," Kon promised.
Arrakiss
Alex dressed like one of the locals, got herself a vehicle, and searched every settlement for a mechanic, the job she figured Medah would return to. On Arrakkis, many of these towns were controlled by the insurgents with various checkpoints. For the most part, Alex wasn't messed with by these checkpoints. Finally, she came across a checkpoint that was more obnoxious than usual.
"Turn off the engine," two insurgents ordered.
Alex complied and handed them fake papers. "Step out," they ordered.
"What's the problem?" Alex asked.
"I said, step out," they insisted and opened the door.
Alex suddenly shot them both in the face, took their arms, and then dragged their bodies off the road. As it happened, an insurgent scout saw the whole thing.
Alex continued her search until she eventually found Medah at a vehicle mechanic center in the slums. "I have his location," Alex radioed Kon.
"Nice, bring him to this dam two clicks away," Kon instructed.
Alex got out and confronted Medah as he was working on a vehicle. Medah noticed her immediately and stopped working. "I like your outfit," he said dryly. "Must have been challenging to find me."
"Meh," Alex shrugged. "Finding aliens and criminals was my day job once. I can get you and your family out of here. We just have to leave now."
"But I like it here," Medah refused.
There was a long awkward silence between them. "Just get your family in the fucking vehicle," Alex said impatiently.
Medah brought his wife and young son into the vehicle and took off. As it happened, insurgent spies spotted them and were converging on their location. The locals were more than happy to snitch on their heading. Alex drove toward the new dam the Titans had made to finally bring irrigation to the planet. Of course, the insurgents saw this as blasphemous and tried to take it down a few times.
"Drive," Alex ordered Medah's wife as she engaged the insurgent convoy with her rifle. Alex and Medah fired on the insurgents, killing several of them and causing a vehicle to toss over.
"Block the tunnel," Alex instructed Medah's wife.
With the tunnel blocked by the vehicle, everyone got out on foot. Alex put a grenade inside the vehicle and allowed it to explode in a fiery wreck. Upon arriving at the dam, Alex and Medah took cover and engaged the insurgents on the hills, firing down on them. They also had to contend with some of the insurgents who were able to get through the fiery wreck. Even though the two were dropping plenty of fools, the insurgents kept coming. They managed to pull the wrecked vehicle out of the tunnel and then pass through. Alex and Medah took cover and used up all of their ammunition dropping several more guys, but it was not enough.
"I'm out," Alex said and then went for her phone to contact Kon but had no signal.
It was then that Alex considered she might have fucked up. She, Medah, and his wife and son were all going to die, and it was all her fault. She was the hero who got everyone killed.
"Stay here, I'll be back," Medah said to Alex and then went out into the open with only a pistol.
"Medah!" Alex shouted at him as he left cover.
The Freemen fired non-stop at him. Within seconds, Medah's clothes and flesh were full of holes. Medah kept advancing even as what appeared to be bone showed through his flesh. He nonchalantly fired into the heads of the Freemen fighters, then took their rifles, and continued to kill more of them. The Freemen fired gas canisters at Medah without effect. Medah went through the gas and continued to shoot more Freemen in the head. Despite bleeding and open wounds all over his body including his chest and face, Medah was unstoppable. Finally, Medah's right eye was revealed to be cybernetic.
Alex simply stared in stunned amazement. The reason why Medah could speak so many languages, knew intelligence about the ambush, knew where the weapons site was located, and was able to move her physically to safety was all because he was...a fucking machine. Alex gave Medah's wife an incredulous look. She just gave her a sheepish grin. "The fuck?" Alex mouthed.
Even still, Medah was taking a lot of damage. His knee was now malfunctioning and his arm got blown off from the heavy fire. Suddenly, there was a wind through the valley. Kon appeared in a split second in a kneeling position. He then slowly stood up and put his sword back in its sheath. "Wait for it," he smiled to Alex. He then clinked his sword in his sheath and instantly all the Freemen in the general area fell to pieces. Mini explosions ripped through the valley as Freemen vehicles and squads were destroyed by delayed ki grenades.
"You, alright?" Kon asked Alex.
"Yeah, sure, nick of time," Alex said dryly.
"Kept things exciting for a moment there, right?" Kon grinned. Kon then went over to Medah. "You looked fucked up, bro."
"I need a vacation," Medah agreed.
"Negative, this is the vacation," Kon chuckled.
Alex confronted Medah, who had metal parts exposed on his leg, arm, chest, right hand, neck, and right side of his face. "You're a Brainiac bot?" she accused.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"And all that talk about your family?" Alex demanded.
"A single mother and her child I put under my protection," he said simply.
"And you're connected to the Brainiac grid, right?" Alex pressed.
"Negative, this drone has an independent AI, not connected to the grid," Medah replied.
"Fuck me," Alex said, realizing she had been played. Kara and Brainiac 5 had used Alex's sympathies toward Medah to try to get her to quit the Space Marines.
Kon brought his ship to the area. It was a modified Charon-class shuttle, featuring folding wings around its spherical cockpit and a long shaft in front. It was heavily armed and could be cloaked. "You backed yourself," Alex said appreciatively.
"Don't mention it," Kon rolled his eyes as he knew his involvement would get him into trouble. "The ship will take you back to Earth."
Earth-Metropolis
Alex arrived with Medah and his family at the Metropolis spaceport. Kara and Brainiac 5 were waiting for her. "You got my drone damaged and compromised his infiltration mission," Brainiac 5 scolded.
"Shove it, Barney," Alex said pissed off.
"You saved a drone and two Freemen, good work," Kara said condescendingly. "And got a shit-ton of people killed doing it."
"I'm not apologizing," Alex said stubbornly.
"You, done playing the hero and getting yourself almost killed by a random NPC?" Kara asked sarcastically.
"You used by humanity against me. How many of the people I work with are people or just drones?" Alex accused angrily.
"Drones are people, too," Brainiac 5 objected.
"Shut the fuck up, you're an asshole," Alex said angrily.
"I got this, Barney," Kara said, sending him away. "Everything he did was my order. Don't you realize the futility of it all at your level? You will never know who is real and who isn't, who matters and who doesn't, which lives to save and which ones to kill. The role of a Space Marine is to kill and die without questioning why. Is that really the life you want?"
"I saved Medah's wife and kid," Alex said stubbornly.
"And how many had to die to make that happen? And I could have planted that family there for all you know," Kara rolled her eyes. "If you had taken my deal, maybe the death toll wouldn't have been as high."
"Those fuckers deserved to die," Alex said adamantly referring to the insurgents.
"No argument there, but is this really about justice, or about you addicted to chaos? Because a Space Marine infected by chaos is eventually going to be purged," Kara said seriously.
"You almost won this game, Kara, but I will not be tricked into anything," Alex told her off. "Send me back to the Space Marines or send me back to the 21st century."
Kara glared at Alex and then summoned Primarch Hulgrim to her. "Give this Battle Brother a new unit and mission," she said finally.
"As you wish, Supreme Leader," Hulgrim replied.
Kara then watched as Alex walked away from her. She had not only failed to persuade Alex to change course but had also lost her trust. The covenant between them had been compromised.